


this memory inked onto my skin

by wholelottanarry



Series: one shots [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Narry - Freeform, Tattoo Artist Niall, harry wants a cover up, its really fluffy, liam isnt in it im sorry, narry storan - Freeform, past gryles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 21:03:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4537290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholelottanarry/pseuds/wholelottanarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Let me guess, bad break up?' Niall asks, pressing his foot on the pedal to achieve a low buzzing sound from the needle.</p>
<p>'Yeah, you could say that' Harry replies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A tattoo fixers au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this memory inked onto my skin

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, there is a programme shown in the UK called tattoo fixers. People come in to get a cover up of a really bad tattoo, which they've came to regret because they either don't like it, or it turned out really rubbish because they were drunk. It'll be on Google.
> 
> I was watching an episode before and I got this idea so I though, ' hey, why don't I write a narry oneshot on it' and now here I am.
> 
> I'm going to start taking in one shot requests and prompts, so feel free to inbox me on here. Or message me on tumblr.
> 
> tumblr- wholelottahoran

The shop doesn't look too busy at the minute, there's a couple of people buzzing around out the back. He can hear the all to familiar buzzing sound of the tattoo needle in the background, and for a change- Harry's feeling really nervous, sure he's had many tattoos- but never has he ever had to come for a cover up.

He walks up to the front desk, hands stuffed into his jacket pocket- a girl sits there.

"Hi, I'm Leigh- Anne. Welcome to GetInked, how can I help?" She asks, a wide grin on her face.

"Uh, hi- yeah, I'm here for a cover up on a tattoo"

"Sure, take a seat over there. Ni! Lou! Pez!" She calls out to presumably her colleagues.

Harry takes a seat on the leather settee and awaits the three tattoo artist's to walk through. First walks out a lad about 25, scruffy hair and a unkempt beard surrounding his face. He's got quite a few tattoos scattered up his forearms, he notices a bird- maybe a sparrow or something on there. He's even got a couple of Pac man characters too- quite creative actually.

"Alright mate, I'm Louis." He introduces himself, extending his arm and hand towards Harry. He copies his actions and reaches forward to accept his handshake.

Next that walks in, is a girl that looks around the same age as Leigh-Anne. She's got long blonde hair which has a bandana wrapped around just above where her parting lays. From what Harry can see, she doesn't look like she's got any tattoos.

"Hi babe, I'm Perrie or Pez. Whichever you wanna call me." She shoots a warm smile and sits in the seat next to Harry.

Finally to walk in is a lad, that looks the same age as Harry. Dyed blond hair with his roots showing, and possibly the bluest eyes he's ever seen. A shadow of dark stubble spread across his jawline and chin.

He's breathtaking.

"M'names Niall, what can we do for you today mate?" And as if this boy couldn't be any fitter, he's Irish.

"Yeah, so I want a cover up of this tattoo." Harry starts.

"It's of my exes name"

Louis looks bored already, wonders how many times he's heard the 'I wanna cover up my exes name' story. Perrie's got a small smile on her face and Niall too, much like Louis- looks bored and unimpressed.

"And where abouts is this tattoo?" Perrie asks, a pencil and sketch pad in her hand.

"It's on my hips, like above where my jeans usually are" Harry explains and stands up, un-zipping his jacket and shrugging it off. He rolls his top up to his chest and steps forward slightly, allowing the three to get a closer look at it.

They all lean forward simultaneously, and Harry wants to laugh at them because what perfect timing. They say nothing else, just get straight down to drawing, Harry takes that opportunity to roll his top back down and take a seat back where he was. It takes about 5 minutes for them to finally be finished their drawings, and Harry has a hard job trying to decide which one he would prefer to have tattooed onto his skin.

"I've went with a sorta tribal pattern to cover it, a lot of detail to ensure that it  covers up his name." Perrie shows hers first and he thinks, yeah it'll cover up the name nicely.

"I've just drawn a couple of laurels, I know it's only a small cover up. But I think it'll look better if you had a laurel on each hip y'know?" Niall adds in next, there's two black laurels on his sketch pad, they're very simple but he thinks they'll look good.

"All I've drawn is a shitty gun, cause, no offence mate. I really can't be arsed to cover ex boyfriend/ girlfriends names." Louis states rather harshly, and Harry's taken aback slightly. Niall and Perrie shoot him a look of disbelief, in which he just simply shrugs.

So, now Harry's got a decision to make between the remaining two drawings. He really likes the look of Perrie's, because it'll be a perfect size to cover up and it looks to have a lot of detail in it. But on the other hand, he likes the looks and sound of Niall's tattoo. He thinks it'll look great, having two laurels on each side of his hips. He's got to admit it it's a little bit on the large side for a cover up, but he still thinks it will look good.

"I think I'm gonna go with Niall, I really like your idea Perrie. But I think the two laurels will look good"

"That's fine, babe." She replies, the same smile on her lips as before.

"Now that it's settled, if you just follow me mate, I'll quickly get this put onto transfer paper and we'll get started."

X

It didn't take long for that to be done, and now Harry is lying down on the chair waiting for Niall to start the tattoo. The nerves from before have shot up and he's feeling more anxious and nervous than ever, but he thinks it's more because he's being tattooed by one of the fittest blokes he's ever came in contact with. It's not like he can't feel anxious, this is the last remaining part of him. The last remaining reminder of just how stupid he was, reminder of just how naive he was while he was with him. Of course he didn't want to be in a committed relationship.

"So, let me guess, bad break up?" Niall asks, pressing his foot on the pedal to achieve a low buzzing sound from the needle.

"Yeah, you could say that" Harry replies.

Niall looks up from where he is, the needle pressing on his hips. And instantly there's the all too familiar sound of the buzz again- filling the area around him. He doesn't jump when the needle first presses on his skin, but he does feel the low burning pain that's in his hips.

"Wasn't ready for a committed relationship s'pose." Harry states.

"That's tough mate."

"Yeah, well silly me. Fall to hard" Harry chuckles albeit sadly.

"I thought we were ready, talked about living together. We even bought a dog together, so I thought that maybe he wanted to take another step forward. But one night when I mentioned it, he flipped- said I was pressuring him too much and that the BBC were stressing him out too much as well. Then he blurted out that he didn't want to move any further forward with me, wanted to focus on his career."

Harry has to swallow the lump that rises in his throat, it's been 5 months now but it still hurts to speak about it.

"If you don't mind me asking, I noticed from the name that he's called Nick- and you mentioned BBC before. Is it Nick as in?"

"Nick Grimshaw, yeah the one from BBC Radio One. That's him." Harry admits, heart hammering against his chest.

"Sounds like a prick if you ask me, and also he's the stupid one to let a fit lad like you go" Niall states, and Harry's heart does a little stutter, because did he just call him fit?

Nothing more is said after that, they stay in silence while Niall concentrates on finishing the tattoo. Harry can't wait to see what it looks like once it's finished.

X

"Right, mate. It's done. Wanna have a look?" Harry nods and stands up from the chair.

There's a dull ache in the lower half of his body, but he knows that it's normal for it to ache after a tattoo. He should know to be honest, he's got enough tattoos around his body to put together and sell as a art piece in the national art gallery in Trafalgar square.

So, he walks over to the mirror, and he was not expecting it to look so good. There's a shade of red around the leaves, but again its normal for it to be read.

The tattoo is visibly and physically gone, there's no trace of his name ever being etched onto his skin. He's finally rid of anything Nick Grimshaw, and he's completely overwhelmed.

"Like it?" Niall asks from beside Harry, he's staring down at the finished piece. Harry nods, not being able to form a complete sentence.

"I love it" He whispers, his fingers ghosting over each little detail of the laurel. His finger does a little pause on where Nick's name used to be, but he soon pushes it away, a small smile curving his lips upwards.

"Sound. If you just wanna go back to Leigh and pay. We take card as payment." He smiles, arms folded across his chest.

"Thank you for this"

"No problem, its what we do innit?" He smirks and Harry let's out a little chuckle.

They both bid farewell to each other, but not before Niall goes through what Harry needs to do to keep it clean, and also to stop it from scabbing over. But of course Harry knows all of this, its not like this is his first tattoo.

But as he leaves, Harry can't help but wish he had met Niall sooner.

X

It's about a week later when Harry finds himself returning back to the tattoo parlour, he doesn't really think this plan will work.

But there's only one way to find out.

He takes a deep breath as he walks in, everything seems quiet- unlike when he was here last week.

Leigh-Anne's sat at the desk again, a wide grin appears on her face again as harry stops directly in front of her and Harry can't stop the small smile from appearing on his face too. he's become a little attached to her, even if they have only met once. But that's the thing with Harry, he becomes attached too quickly and nine times out of ten it ends up in disaster.

"Harry, hi. What can I do for you?" She asks, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the desk.

"Hello Leigh, um is Niall here?" She nods and gives Niall a shout from the desk. There's a sly smirk on her face but Harry doesn't want to know why she's smirking.

Niall walks in a couple of seconds later and looks a bit taken back, but he quickly recovers a wide grin on his face- showing his perfectly straight teeth.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here again Harry, what tattoo you wanting covered up now?" He jokes and Harry's heart does a little flutter again.

"Eh- its not for a cover up. I want a new tattoo,and I was wondering if you'd maybe do it?" Harry asks, the nerves climbing higher than what they were before. His palms have become a lot more sweaty than what they were 10 seconds ago.

He pulls out the little slip of paper from the inside pocket of his coat and passes it over to Niall.

His eyes flicker between Harry's and the slip of paper, eyebrows knitted in confusion.

_'Will you go on a date with me?'_

"Is this a question for me? Or are you really going to be stupid enough to get this tatted on your skin?" Niall asks in disbelief.

"You know me, I was stupid enough to get my exes name on me, when we probably both knew we weren't ready. So why not?" Harry plays along, a smirk of his own etched onto his face.

"No, I refuse to tattoo this on your body." Niall replies sternly, a hint of annoyance showing.

"Okay, well- fancy answering that question for yourself then?" Niall's expression visibly softens, a small but fond smile coming through.

"Sure, I'll go on a date with you. But you can text me first." He answers, and Harry doesn't think he's been this happy about something like this since Nick

Harry snorts out a laugh and grabs a pen from the front desk, quickly scribbles down his mobile number. Niall shoots him another fond smile, Harry's stomach flutters.

"So, I guess I'll see you soon yeah?" Niall asks.

"Not if I see you first"


End file.
